Greetings From the Gilleys: My Sweet Rosie

I guess it's time to write a blog about Rosie. My sweet baby kitten who died over the Summer. I never mentioned her before because this past year we have had bad luck with pets and getting new cats just wasn't something I wanted to broadcast this time around. But, for my blog book I need to put Rosie in.

So, we had a cat named Schmidt and he was evil. He bit the kids and hissed at Sully all the time so when we went missing in May, I was A-OK with it. I mean, I was sad for a minute, but not much. I swore we'd be cat free for awhile but I just hate not having cats! I can't help it! I'm a cat lover! So I convinced Shawn to agree to a new kitten soon after. We went to my Vet (they always have kittens for adoption) and they had a brand new litter of the cutest kittens EVER! Immediately Piper bonded with Rosie. She was "the one." She picked her up and said "this is Rosie" without even thinking about it. She was cuddly and fuzzy and had this sweet disposition about her that we all just fell in love with! The problem was, Lucy immediately fell in love with this hyper little boy cat that was hilarious. You know all those funny cat videos online? He was that cat- jumping everywhere, running around, being so funny. And they were brother and sister.... Shawn wasn't with us (he was out of town) and we were there for an hour trying to decide which one to keep and we just COULDN'T. I loved them both and they loved each other! They were 6 weeks old and so cute playing together. I texted Shawn saying "if you're going to divorce me over this, then I won't do it. But I'm about to get two kittens, not just one...." He called me right away to try to say no but when I explained that they were brother and sister and Lucy wanted the boy and Piper wanted the girl and they were SOOOO cute, he actually agreed (shocking, I know!)! We left the vet with the 2 sweetest kittens in the entire world. The white one is Rosie, the striped one is Teddy.

They would sleep intertwined together. They followed each other all day. They were SO good with the kids. They were absolutely precious. I had an extra soft spot for Rosie for whatever reason, but I loved them both. Shawn and I sleep with our bedroom door open, so every night the cats would jump on our bed and snuggle in with me. They were perfect. Lucy named the boy Teddy and Piper named Rosie. Everything was perfect with them.

Until it wasn't.

2 months later, Rosie woke up and was vomiting bright green bile everywhere. The day before she had been extra sleepy and wouldn't eat. I texted Shawn that day that I was worried about her, but he said she'd be fine- once again, he was out of town. Well, when she woke up throwing up the next day I called the vet immediately. They were closed (just my luck!) and the on-call nurse said "just bring her in first thing in the morning. Right when you wake up. It's important. If she gets worse, bring her to an animal ER." That didn't sound very reassuring. I thought she was just sick until that phone call. So then I started watching her like a hawk. Within 2 hours she went down-hill fast. I tried to put a syringe of water in her mouth but she just threw it up. I opened a can of tuna and pressed a tiny piece on her tongue to get her to eat but she wouldn't close her mouth around it so it kept falling out. Her breathing started getting shallow and so I said to the kids "we have to go to the vet NOW! Everyone get in the car!" Sully was napping so I woke him up quickly and was putting clothes on him and Lucy ran in and said "Mommy- Rosie threw up again and she's just laying in it! She won't move." I knew we wouldn't make it to the vet. I was hysterical. I flew into the kitchen and picked her up and her mouth was gray. Her eyes were open and glossy but she wasn't responsive. I know this is gross, but I put my mouth on hers and blew into it because I wasn't being rational and I thought, "maybe if I give her extra air, she will be able to breathe again." But as I blew, I noticed that her belly stopped moving. It wasn't labored anymore....it was still. There was no life in her. I didn't remain clam at all. I hate how I reacted, but I screamed and I cried and I literally threw my phone across the room. Then I picked it up and said "GET IN THE CAR! We are still going to the vet!" I kept thinking maybe, maybe there was something that could be done, even though I knew.... She was dead. But the kids all jumped in the car and I FLEW to another vet we used to go to. I probably drove 90mph. Not safe, but I was in complete panic mode. I pulled in and told the kids to stay put while I ran inside, with Rosie in my arms. I was sobbing and I said "I know my cat is gone, but I don't know what to do, so I'm here with her." As I was saying that, her body shuttered so I had a glimmer of hope that maybe she was still alive. They brought her back into their clinic very quickly (she was wrapped in a blanket) and that was when I went outside to get the kids out of the car. When we came back in, the receptionist said "I'd like to show you all to a room to sit in while you wait for the doctor to come talk to you." We waited for the doctor to tell us that Rosie had passed, and that sometimes, the nerves in the body are still firing so that's why she had an involuntary shutter a few minutes earlier. The doctor said she was almost certain that she had a heart problem and there was NOTHING they could have done to save her, and we did NOTHING wrong. They said it's rare, but hearing how quickly it all happened, that was their conclusion. I was completely heartbroken. My tiny baby Rosie was gone. My favorite cat ever (other than Bleeker from years ago). I was gutted. I only had her for 2 months but I loved her every single minute of those months. She had never even been outside:(

Piper was sobbing and so the first thing that came out of my mouth to soothe her was "we will get you another kitten. I promise."

The vet gave us a little biodegradable coffin to put her in and I noticed later that they had cleaned her up. She didn't have the bile on her side anymore. We have a rose bush on the side of our house and we buried her next to it. Roses for Rosie. Shawn flew home late that night and brought home roses for us to give to her. The next morning we had a little burial for her. We all looked at her one last time (I didn't know whether or not to let the girls see her, but I asked if they wanted to and they did.) We all petted her and told her we loved her. It was little strange to pet her as she was dead, but I think it gave us a little bit of closure. We buried some flowers in the coffin with her, and then we laid roses on top of her grave once she was covered. Once a month we still get some roses to give her. It still hurts and I cried for days.

The next morning, we drove up to vet where we adopted her and told them that she passed. The vet felt terrible. She said "I'm so, so sorry that we were closed yesterday." Through tears, I told them what the other vet said- that they think she had a congenital problem and she agreed. Rosie had had her shots and her checkups were always fine, and as I said, she had never even been outside. Anyway, the vet said "pick a new kitty, there will be no charge. I will not charge you for fixing it or any shots or anything." So (even though there was another litter of siblings and I could have taken 4) we left with just ONE, and he was the calmest cat there. There was a super cute cat there that looked like a skunk (all black with a thick stripe down the middle!) that we really thought we wanted, but she was NOT friendly. She was scared and clawing Piper like crazy. We needed a cat that would soothe Piper. She kept saying to me "we will never find a cat as cuddly as Rosie!" It was a big deal to her to get a cat that liked to be held. There was another cat there that was as calm as could be. He just wanted to cuddle. So that's the one Piper chose, and she named him Bear. We have Teddy and Bear. And even though they are not from the same litter, they are the very best of friends. Teddy was really sad after Rosie died. He looked around for her all day. He kept meowing at me, asking me where his little sister was. He was depressed for a few days and it was heartbreaking. He didn't understand what was happening or where she went.

The saddest thing I ever saw was this: after the kids went to bed on the day Rosie died, I opened her coffin and brought Teddy in. I read that sometimes cats will get closure if they can see that their friend is gone. He didn't understand that she was dead. He kept licking her over and over. He was sniffing her all over and pawing at her to try to get her to wake up. He was always the cat who wanted to play. She was a sleepy cat (and now I know why) and he was constantly waking her up so that she would play with him. However, this time she wasn't waking up and I was sitting there bawling my eyes out. He wouldn't stop trying to get her to wake up, so I finally had to pick him up and take him out of the room. His best friend was gone and I couldn't torture myself or him any longer.

Bear and him took a few hours to warm up to each other, and Teddy wasn't himself for a few days. But eventually they became brothers. They now sleep entwined. They play all day. They wrestle like crazy. But it's still sad to think about my sweet Rosie. I put her cat tag on my car keychain so that she's with me everywhere I go. I have a special place in my heart for Teddy because of all we went through together. I love both him and Bear, but Teddy is extra special. I wonder if he remembers Rosie.... I don't know. But we pray for her a lot and Piper always asks Heavenly Father to tell her hi for us. It was a really sad time :( I didn't talk to anyone about it other than Shawn and my one friend here who had met the cats. I cried everyday for about 2 weeks, at least once a day. I still visit her grave a couple times a week, but I don't cry everyday anymore. Bear was such a good choice for a new cat to help replace her. He LOVES us. He wants to be held all day everyday. He's a major cuddler and is a really happy kitty. We totally lucked out. And "everything happens for a reason" so I know it was just her time to go. But I'll never, ever forget my sweet Rosie.